Becoming Relaxed The cornerstone of all guided imagery work lies in the ability to relax the body, mind, and emotions. This is true whether you would like to awaken your intuition, communicate with your inner guide, connect with nature, or benefit from the healing visualizations. You will be wasting your time if you don’t relax first.

Practice the following exercises until you become comfortable doing them. The method used for relaxing isn’t important; being able to relax is. Relaxation opens the door to your inner resources. Try out each exercise several times and choose the ones that work best for you.

After you’ve mastered the relaxation exercises, explore the different types of guided visualizations in the other sections of this book, or of those from volume 1.

Relaxing while Lying Down Learn to lie down and relax by alternately tensing and relaxing all muscle groups and by mentally releasing tension. (10 minutes)

Expanding and Contracting This short relaxation exercise, performed while lying down, combines progressive relaxation with breathing and body scanning techniques. (4 minutes)

Magic Carpet Ride This deep breathing exercise works well for people who have difficulty with relaxed breathing. (15 minutes)

Threshold Relaxation In this exercise, you will slightly tense a specific part of their body until it begins to feel tense. Once tension is felt, it is held a moment and then relaxed. Threshold Relaxation teaches participants to be sensitive to small changes in the body. Through practice (several times a day at first) the body learns what relaxation feels like in each muscle and how to regulate itself in automatic and unconscious ways. (12 minutes)

Heavy This script helps you experience the freshness of spirit and calmness of mind that results from passive attention to the rhythm of their breathing and the relaxed heaviness in their hands and feet. (15 minutes)

Warm This autogenic relaxation routine asks participants to gently focus on warmth spreading through their bodies, bringing complete relaxation and a sense of personal peace and renewal. (15 minutes)

Relaxation Training for Children This entertaining relaxation script is perfect for children (and adults) because it teaches them how to tense and relax their muscles while utilizing their fantasy and imagination skills. (12 minutes)

Nature and the Environment This section contains a variety of guided meditations that will help deepen your ability to relax and sharpen your ability to visualize, whether you visualize by using your imagination to see, feel, smell, or hear the scenes described. When you practice using all your senses, your experience will be enriched.

Getting in touch with nature is soothing, inspiring, and healing. To get the most out of these visualizations, first take the time to thoroughly relax. Remember to briefly describe the content of the guided visualization to the people you are working with. If a particular setting makes anyone uncomfortable, select a different script.

Finding Your Own Sacred Place Participants are gently guided into a relaxed state of being and then given instructions for discovering and exploring a comfortable, personal sacred place. (20 minutes)

Mountain Tops A mountain top is the setting for this relaxing journey to relaxation and renewal. (8 minutes)

Mighty Pine Participants take an imaginary walk into a grove of trees to find a mighty pine tree from which they draw strength and energy. (10 minutes)

Listening to Mother Earth This script can help participants experience their connection to Mother Earth and learn from her wisdom. (5 minutes)

Flying This script begins with a relaxation exercise that emphasizes the feelings of heaviness and lightness to help participants more fully experience the imagery of flying. (20 minutes)

Hot Tubbing Participants experience feelings of peace and understanding by imagining they are lounging in an outdoor hot tub. (5 minutes)

Inner Answers Using the guided imagery exercises in this section will help you listen to what you already know. In other words, you will awaken your intuition to help you be consistent and in alignment with your own inner, individual truth.

These scripts are written to unlock your creative potential, provide you with insights, help you see patterns and possibilities, and understand yourself better. In order for this to happen, it is crucial to relax your body and quiet your mind first. So be sure to use a relaxation exercise whenever you are instructed to do so.

Imagery for Nurturing Your Inner Child In this guided imagery, each participant is invited to meet and lovingly nurture his or her inner child. (10 minutes)

Your Private Space This visualization works well with individuals in weight classes and in other classes dealing with the need for boundaries, protection, positive body image, healing, and unconditional love. (15 minutes)

Body, Mind, Soul Help your clients get in touch with their body, mind, and soul while they increase personal awareness and create personal strength and well-being. (8 minutes)

Visiting Your Heart’s House In this script, participants equip themselves to meet lifeís challenges by receiving insightful and helpful gifts from an ancient chest located in their heart’s house. (18 minutes)

Enjoy and benefit from over 30 scripts for learning and leading guided relaxation and imagery techniques. Volume 2. CLICK on the blue title link above to find out more...

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Healing The mind and body are one, and what you believe and feel are reflected in your body. Sometimes your thoughts may lead to illness, aches, and pains; and other times, they can lead to exhilarating feelings of joy, pleasure, and peacefulness. Likewise, the condition of your body and the way it is feeling affect your thoughts. This is why it is impossible to worry when you feel relaxed.

Much of the benefits derived from the following healing imageries come from the necessary first step of calming and centering the body and mind. Therefore, it is important to perform a relaxation exercise whenever a script calls for one. Read the works of Bernie Siegel, Jeanne Achterberg, Joan Borysenko, Patrick Fanning, and Deepak Chopra for an in-depth look at how and why healing imageries work.

Healing Firemen This visualization was developed for aiding in the healing process for any illness. It is particularly well-suited for cancer patients who are receiving radiation treatment or taking drugs. (12 minutes)

At Peace with Pain This visualization is designed to help meet the challenge of severe and persistent pain. It relies on the paradox of acceptance and surrender as a way of gaining power, not of giving up. (20 minutes)

Pond of Love In this script, participants sit beside an imaginary pond that radiates love. Endless variations can be created by substituting different characteristics and virtues radiating from the pond. For instance, the pond may be full of peace, understanding, or forgiveness. You may also want to let participants choose the characteristics on their own. (8 minutes)

Inner Smile This gentle relaxation exercise has its roots in Zen meditation and will leave participants feeling inner harmony and happiness. (10 minutes)

Thoughts Library This script can help participants control wandering, stressful, distracting thoughts by having them exchange these thoughts for relaxing ones. Participants visualize putting away unwanted thoughts in a book with vinyl see-through pages and then opening up another imaginary book to experience a relaxing and beautiful ocean scene. (15 minutes)

Personal Growth Many people find it hard to make decisions, and many others find it difficult to make positive lifestyle changes. If this is true for you or your clients, try out these guided visualizations. Give your body and mind the chance to work for you instead of against you.

Read Creative Visualization and Living in the Light by Shakti Gawain for a description of the principles used in these scripts.

As always, be certain to use a relaxation script whenever advised to do so, and feel free to modify these scripts to fit your situation.

Visualizing Change In this script, participants spend time exploring and visualizing a desired behavioral change to enhance the change process. (10 minutes)

Stop Smoking Relaxation Exercise This script is intended to be used in conjunction with a smoking cessation program or a strategies for quitting program. It begins with a passive progressive muscle relaxation exercise to put participants at ease then offers positive suggestions on becoming smoke-free. (18 minutes)

Imagery to Increase Basal Metabolic Rate (Learning Script) This and the following imagery script focus on weight control by having participants imagine increasing their basal metabolic rates (BMR), which stands for the number of calories burned at rest. (12 minutes)

Imagery to Increase Basal Metabolic Rate (Shorter Script) This script should be used after participants have gone through the preceding script several times. (8 minutes)

Peace for People Experiencing Grief This gentle and loving script helps people deal with their grief by guiding them to a special place full of beauty and healing energy. In this place, the grief and pain surrounding loss begins to be soothed and relieved. (25 minutes)

On Being a Wellness Professional This guided visualization helps participants discover a career path to follow that is in keeping with their inner talents and interests. Although it is written with a focus on professionals in the field of wellness, it can be adapted for almost any profession. (15 minutes)